Indigenous Foodways

Freshly caught and harvested Quahog clams from Cape Cod.

On Cape Cod, the Wampanoag Assert Their Legal Right to Harvest the Waters

August 21, 2024

Not everyone respects that right. But the Wampanoag are determined to continue, saying their work is an essential expression of 12,000 years of heritage, sovereignty, and lifeways.

In Brazil, a Powerful Law Protects Biodiversity and Blocks Corporate Piracy

By Mark Schapiro

July 8, 2024

An overhead shot of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. (Photo credit: FG Trade, Getty Images)

For This Alaska Town, Whaling Is a Way of Life

By Kate Nelson

April 22, 2024

Parting the ice as they tow the whale back home. (Photo credit: Jim Wickens)

Native Youth Learn to Heal Their Communities Through Mycelium

By Kate Nelson

March 25, 2024

The Land Back Movement Is Also About Foodways

By Kate Nelson

February 12, 2024

Nick Tilsen during the Mount Rushmore Land Back Protest. (Photo credit: Willi White)

Listen to Plants, Says Indigenous Forager and Activist Linda Black Elk

By Kate Nelson

February 6, 2024

Linda Black Elk (Photo courtesy of NATIFS)

Op-ed: The Clear Lake Hitch, and the Tribes That Depend on Them, Face Continuing Threats

By Jeanine Pfeiffer and Ron Montez Sr.

January 30, 2024

A rescued hitch (Photo credit: Luis Santana)

Our Best Food Justice Stories of 2023

By The Civil Eats Editors

December 27, 2023

The Black farmers at Big Dream Farm stand in the field. (Photo credit: Jared Davis)

This Indigenous Cook Wants to Help Readers Decolonize Their Diets

By Twilight Greenaway

November 28, 2023

author Sara Calvosa Olson and the cover of her book about indigenous foods and foodways, Chimi Nu'am. (Photo courtesy of Sara Calvosa Olson)

Building a Case for Investment in Regenerative Agriculture on Indigenous Farms

By Kate Nelson

November 20, 2023

Jess Brewer gathers livestock at Brewer Ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. (Photo courtesy of Intertribal Agriculture Council, www.indianag.org)

Tribes Are Building Food Sovereignty With Help From the Nation’s Largest Hunger-Relief Group

By Kate Nelson

October 31, 2023

Cheyenne Majenty of Helping Hands for Hualapai hopes a new program through Feeding America will help the tribe develop greater food sovereignty through community gardens. (Photo credit: Joel Gonzalez)

This Oregon Farmer Is Building a New Model for Indigenous Food and Agriculture

By Kate Nelson

September 18, 2023

Spring Alaska Schreiner walks in her greenhouse at Sakari Farms. (Photo courtesy of Spring Alaska Schreiner)

How Alaska Natives Lost the Right to Fish Sacred Salmon

By Kate Nelson

August 14, 2023

An Alaska Native subsistence fisherman steers his boat loaded with salmon on the Yukon River.

A Fight for Salmon Fishing Rights Connects Indigenous Peoples Across the Pacific Ocean

By Naoki Nitta

July 26, 2023

Members of the Raporo Ainu Nation observe asir cep nomi, an Ainu ceremony that marks the fish’s annual migration back to the island’s major rivers and tributaries. (Photo credit: Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies)

This Indigenous 4-H Officer Wants to See More Farm Bill Funding for Her Community

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

July 25, 2023

Kristy Kinlicheenie standing outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Gabriel Pietrorazio)

An Indigenous-Led Team Is Transforming a Minneapolis Superfund Site into a New Urban Farm

By Kate Nelson

July 18, 2023

Op-ed: Saving This Fish Means Saving Our Tribe’s Future

By Ron Montez Sr. and Jeanine Pfeiffer

June 28, 2023

Ron Montez Sr. stands at an impassible culvert on Adobe Creek, singing to hitch pooling in the waters below. (Photo credit: Jeanine Pfeiffer)

Farm Bill Funding for Indigenous Food Producers Needs a Boost

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

May 8, 2023

Spring Alaska Schreiner, owner and principal ecologist at Sakari Farms, reaches down to lift a planting and its root systems inside one of six smaller greenhouses. (Photo courtesy of Sakari Farms)

Can Sean Sherman’s BIPOC Foodways Alliance Dismantle White Supremacy Over Dinner?

By Kate Nelson

April 25, 2023

Chef and food writer Mecca Bos (left) and Native American chef Sean Sherman (center) launched the BIPOC Foodways Alliance to preserve and share food stories from various communities of color. They recently hosted their first communal dinner to share different cultural approaches to cooking and sharing food. (Photo credit: Uche Iroegbu)

Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Indigenous Water Rights in the Southwest

By Virginia Gewin

March 15, 2023

A close-up view of center-pivot irrigation watering corn on NAPI farmland. (Photo courtesy of NAPI)

Alaska’s Climate-Driven Fisheries Collapse Is Devastating Indigenous Communities

By Kate Nelson

March 13, 2023

An Alaskan king crab trap and fishing vessel.

After Centuries of Exploitation, Will Indigenous Communities in Biodiversity Hotspots Finally Get Their Due?

By Mark Schapiro

March 7, 2023